CROSSBREEDING SWINE: EVALUATION OF TWENTY-EIGHT CROSSES OF MARKET PIGS

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Abstract
Data from 948 uncastrated male pigs (323 litters) from 28 one-way crosses among eight different breeds were analyzed for age at market weight (75 kg carcass weight), carcass backfat measurements (the sum of the maximum depths over the shoulder and loin areas) and an index combining the two traits. The crosses resulted from mating Yorkshire (Y) Landrace (Ld), Lacombe (Lc), Hampshire (H) Duroc (D), Berkshire (B) and Large Black (LB) sows with Ld, Lc, H, D, B, LB and Tamworth (T) boars in a half polyallel mating design. The youngest pigs to reach market weight were those from D × Ld, LB × H LB × D and D × Y crosses (173.0 to 175 6 days), and the oldest were from B × Y, T × LB, Ld × Y and T × B crosses (191.9 to 186.8 days). The pigs with the least depth of backfat were those by H boars and Ld, Lc and Y sows (7.2, 7.5 and 7.8 cm, respectively) Pigs with LB and T ancestry had thicker backfat than pigs of other crosses. In descending order, the five highest ranking crosses based on an index combining the two traits were D × Ld, H × Ld, H × Lc, H × Y and D × H. The effects of breed of sire, breed of dam, and the partial regression on carcass weight were statistically significant for the two traits studied.

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